Burhan Kuzu, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK) and AKP İstanbul deputy, has called on prosecutors to investigate NATO’s İncirlik air base over Turkey’s botched coup attempt last summer.

Claiming that the allegations about three tankers from İncirlik air base delivering fuel on the night of the coup attempt were loud, Kuzu called on prosecutors to investigate what happened in the base on July 15 during the coup in a social media message on Sunday.

İncirlik is a base used by NATO allies to launch air strikes against Islamic State in neighboring Syria.

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor in April launched an investigation into 17 prominent US figures including Senator Chuck Schumer, former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara and former CIA Director John Brenan for allegedly “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order” and “attempting to overthrow the government and parliament.”

A controversial military coupattempt on July 15, 2016 killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup. (turkishminute.com)